About a week ago, news came out that showrunner Ed Bernero (Criminal Minds, Third Watch) was exiting Katherine Heigl’s upcoming TV drama, State of Affairs. Sources were careful to tell EW that “the exit doesn’t have anything to do with the show’s star.” This was a necessary but unconvincing clarification, given Heigl’s well-earned reputation as difficult to work with. (Which shedenies despite all evidence to the contrary.) EW’s story didn’t mention Katherine’s momager, Nancy, at all, who is an executive producer on the show and is likely to be a royal pain in the ass to deal with.

Here’s an anecdote from Mike Walker in the National Enquirer which again cements Heigl’s status as difficult. Walker has run previous insider stories on Heigl, and I think he has a source on the State of Affairs set. He claims that Heigl made producers reshoot an entire scene because she didn’t like the way her butt looked. This was eyeroll-inducing for her more professional co-star, Alfre Woodard, who suggested she just use a butt double if she had a problem with it.

Katherine Heigl – viewing dailies of her new “State of Affairs” TV series – suddenly screamed at producers: “Look at how you filmed my BUTT!! My #*%$ ass looks like the size of Nebraska!” Said my on-set spy: “Katherine’s notorious temper’s infuriating people – especially her Emmy Award-winning co-star Alfre Woodard, who got particularly upset when she demanded a reshoot of an entire scene because she felt they hadn’t done a good enough job of flattering her posterior! And when Miss Woodard suggested bringing in a body double with a smaller behind to stand in for Katherine, the proverbial ‘fit really hit the shan.’ Katherine exploded, shrieking, ‘I’ve got the best butt in Hollywood!’

If the facts of this story are true, that Heigl demanded a reshoot of an entire scene because she didn’t like the way her butt looked, that’s ridiculous. Even if she was humorous and self-deprecating in the way she asked for a reshoot (and this story claims she was arrogant and egotistical), it still must cost tens of thousands of dollars to reshoot a scene, not to mention the time and frustration factor. (Breaking Badcost around $3 million an episode to make, so it’s not a stretch to assume $2 million or more for this show.) Heigl must know how expensive it is to film a scene so you would think she’d try to keep her ego in check.

I’m interested to see how State of Affairs, a thriller and Homeland knockoff, fairs when it stars airing on NBC in November. Halle Berry’s very decent NBC scifi series, Extant, is struggling in the ratings and was moved to a later time slot. (I’m still watching it, I really enjoy that show.) It’s still not known whether it will be renewed. When an actress as captivating and skilled as Berry can’t ensure a TV show’s success, the chances that failed romcom queen Heigl can are incredibly low.

These are photos of Katherine Heigl and Alfre Woodard on a press tour in July. Look at their body language. Heigl is also shown out in NYC in May. Credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

Agreed! I love Alfre, too! I will root for the show because of her.
I hate to say it, but I think Katherine’s energy is so toxic that it oozes off the screen. I don’t see this show lasting more than one season, if that long. She’s got a bad attitude and it’s really affecting her looks.

The producers must have known her reputation. Well, boys, I hope she torments you with her diva act. You deserve it for subjecting the rest of us to this witch every week. Even though I won’t be watching, she’ll undoubtedly be in the press on a regular basis now.

Well, some actors should act, but some are legitimately multi-talented. Emma Thompson is a great writer, so is Matt Damon, Ben Affleck has turned out to be a really good, maybe even great director (I think he’s still improving film-to-film and we haven’t seen his ceiling yet). I like stuff Ben Stiller has written/directed, and Will Ferrell is a great comedy writer. And for women, sometimes multi-tasking is the only way to get jobs. Look at Brit Marling, Lake Bell, Lena Dunham, they’re all making their own work. I’m excited to see Luptia Nyong’o move into producing and directing; she made a short film a while back that I saw on some website around the time of the Oscars and it was pretty good. She has a lot of potential.

Maybe Katherine Heigl should stick to just acting, but there are plenty of really talented people out there who can pull double duty.

I took what L said to mean actors should act period when that’s what they are hired to do. Certainly Hollywood past and present is full of talented multi-hyphenates or those actors who transitioned full-time (ala Ron Howard) into a different but related field.

NBC for picking up this show too. I remember Robert Greenblatt (CEO of NBC) going to bat for her. Well, I hope he gets ready to tuck into some crow pie. I love Alfrie’s WTF face while standing next to Katie.

Alfrie should jump ship and join How to Get Away with Murder (which I will watch BTW).

This is the second producer to leave. The first one, Alexi Hawley, developed the series and even he couldn’t take it. He left his baby most likely do to mere and Daughter Heigel.

If her mother is an executive producer, does that mean that she is bankrolling this show? If so, then I would think the money spent on making the star look more attractive (whatever those subjective parameters are) is okay. I will add that I’m not a fan, but for the sake of playing devil’s advocate, if she looks bad in a show, doesn’t that diminish the show’s appeal for some demographics?

No, the Heigl’s aren’t bankrolling the show, the EP credit is a vanity credit and gives more money. Basically, they had an idea for a show centered around Katherine and convinced NBC that it should be made, but NBC would have brought in an actual show runner and production company (which is in this case Joe Carnahan’s, which is a total red flag).

How on earth is Carnahan even still making TV and movies? I know people that saw The Grey and were actually angry at how bad it was, and Reese Witherspoon famously saw SmokinAces and then immediately withdrew from the movie she was supposed to make with him, it was so bad. And seriously, what glutton for punishment paired him with the Heigl’s?

I think a lot of people didn’t like The Grey because it amounted to a snuff film. If it had a different (slightly happier) ending, I’m sure the tune would be different.

Carnahan is a good filmmaker! He’s just a punk who runs his mouth. He’s like that person in the office who is good at their job but can’t get out of their own way when it comes to office politics, and so never advances beyond middle management. Every office has one of those.

Omg Shatner was practically a tyrant. By the third and final season he was wearing a girdle and he asked for scenes in “Spock’s Brain” to be re-shot so many times that Leonard Nimoy almost broke Kayfabe while he was Spock. To his dying day, Jimmy Doohan thought Shatner was selfish and egotistical and George Takei has as little to do with him as possible.

Totally agree.An actress that i’m not named said in an interview that she re-watched one of her scenes and all she saw is her “big” acne.She wanted to redo her scene but the director said her “don’t worry! anyone won’t notice it” .They have an argument but finally she fllowed his opinion .BS ! When you watch the movie,you see her big acne

Oof. You’re not angry at all about this. Take a chill pill, there are ways to express that opinion without coming out of the gate and calling people morons. It can have the tendency to make one sound a little unhinged on the emotional investment side.

Ha! We do look like crazies, talking to the air about Katherine Heigl.

I’m actually not shocked that the original comment was removed, since the moderators tend to be very sensitive to flat out insults, and the poster did name themself “Idiots”. The other day I replied to something with “what are you, a Kardashian?” And that didnt even make it through!!

Yeah, until Encore moves me into the next couple of decades, I will remain suspended in time and culture up until about the year 2000. I watch a lot of TCM. too. I sometimes want to start my sentences with “You see” or call you all fellows and dames and dirty rats.

Your imagination is better than the comment that is missing, I’m sure of that.

I don’t really understand what you’re even saying. Since she pitched the show (which is still run by a showrunner not named Heigl, and is actually being credited as a Joe Carnahan show) she can’t possibly behave badly?

Halle’s show is doing poorly? That’s sad to hear, I was rooting for her. The show didn’t seem like something I’d watch, but I wanted it to be succesful.

What can be said about Heigl that hasn’t been said already. I see very few chances of this show lasting a second season. I don’t know what will happen to Katherine after that but her future isn’t looking good.

I’m not interested in anything the big four networks are doing. With the exception of Parks & Rec and Brooklyn 99, I’m not watching any network shows. Cable and basic cable keep me busy, and now online and streaming outlets are beginning to occupy a lot of my time. I should be impressed that a movie star is on a network show? There’s a movie star on every third show on every network/outlet there is.

I did try to watch Halle Berry’s show because I like sci-fi/horror type stuff, but I found it to be so broad and bland that it was a dead bore. Maybe if they’d taken that concept to a cable channel where they could get weird with it, like The Strain, I’d be into it, but it struck me as watered-down, dumbed-down, psuedo-smart nothing.

I love Alfred. I also believe that Heigl is a “diva,” but I don’t believe this story is real. There may be a grain of truth to it as she may have asked the producers for a reshoot, which they may not have been too happy about. Yet, I don’t believe that she did all of the screaming, lol. That part sounds inflated.